Bermudagrass plant named ‘Premier’

ABSTRACT

An asexually reproduced variety of perennial bermudagrass with a unique combination of characters including fine blade width and medium internode length.

Latin name of the genus and species of the plant claimed: The presentinvention relates to the genus and species Cynodon dacytlon (L.) Pers.

Variety denomination: ‘Premier’.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of Invention

The present invention relates to a new and distinct asexually reproducedvariety of perennial bermudagrass Cynodon dacytlon (L.) Pers.

BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to a new and distinct perennial bermudagrasscultivar identified as ‘Premier’ bermudagrass (herein referred to as‘Premier’). The inventors, Donald Parsons and Virginia Lehman,discovered ‘Premier’ under cultivated conditions in a golf coursefairway near Seal Beach, Calif. ‘Premier’ was identified as a distinctlydifferent vegetative patch or segregated clonal plant differing bydarker green leaf color from the suspected parental variety commonTifgreen (unpatented). The inventors asexually reproduced ‘Premier’ bytaking vegetative cuttings of the plant material from the golf courseincluding stolons and rhizomes, cutting the rhizomes and stolons intosegments, each with a vegetative bud, and rooted them in potting mediain a greenhouse near Parker, Tex.

For purposes of registration under the “International Convention for theProtection of New Varieties of Plants” (generally known by its Frenchacronym as the UPOV Convention) and noting Section 1612 of the Manual ofPlant Examining Procedure, it is proposed that the title of theinvention is Bermudagrass plant named ‘Premier’.

BRIEF DESCRIPTIONS OF THE ILLUSTRATIONS

FIG. 1. Tiller of ‘Premier’ bermudagrass.

COMPLETE DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETY

‘Premier’ was characterized in greenhouse and field conditions.‘Premier’ is a unique variety of bermudagrass (Cynodon dacytlon (L.)Pers). that was discovered under cultivated conditions in a gold coursefairway near Seal Beach, Calif. ‘Premier’ was identified in the field ashaving a darker green leaf color than its suspected parent ‘Tifgreen’.The golf course fairway was located in USDA Plant Hardiness Zone 9.‘Premier’ was propagated by the inventors under field and greenhouseconditions in Parker, Tex. by cutting of rhizomes and stolons, rootingthem in soil, and planting of the rooted material to provide plantingstock for studying performance and for comparison of morphologicalcharacters after propagation. ‘Premier’ has been propagated by rhizomes,stolons, tillers, and sod. Asexually reproduced plants of ‘Premier’ haveremained stable and true to type through successive generations ofpropagation. No seedling establishment from ‘Premier’ has been noticedin either greenhouse or field studies.

‘Premier’ is a perennial bermudagrass that spreads by both stolons andrhizomes. Characteristics of ‘Premier’ measured in 2003 were taken fromplants that were approximately 9 months in age. The greenhouse waslocated near Lebanon, Oreg., with a nighttime low temperature of 50degrees F., and daytime high of 80 degrees F., and a minimum soiltemperature of 60 degrees F. The plants were grown with a minimum14-hour day length, supplemented with photosynthetically activeradiation equivalent to approximately 50% sunlight. The plants werefertilized with the equivalent of 1 pound of actual N per month, using asoluble fertilizer of 20-20-20 in two equal soluble applications permonth.

‘Premier’ has a finer leaf texture than the suspected parent ‘Tifgreen’(Table 1) when measured under greenhouse conditions in Lebanon, Oreg.‘Premier’ has few surface leaf (1-5) hairs compared to the varietyTifgreen which has no leaf hairs. The hairs at the mouth of the sheathof ‘Premier’ are longer than ‘Tifway’ and ‘Tifgreen’ (Table 3). No seedsof ‘Premier’ have developed; no seedlings have been noted in the fieldstudies. The inflorescences produced in the greenhouse have consisted ofempty florets and no seed has been formed.

‘Premier’ has not shown any susceptibility in tests to date in theAubrey, Tex. test production site to the diseases and insects common tothe bermudagrass genus. ‘Premier’ has shown good turfgrass performanceand temperature adaptation when tested in Dallas, Tex. (Table 4), and asfar north as Aubrey, Tex. USDA zone 8A, which would extend the area ofadaptation for ‘Premier’ in a line from South-Central Alabama acrosscentral Arkansas through North Central Texas, across New Mexico andArizona to Los Angeles in an East/West line and on a North/South linefrom North central Texas south through Mexico. ‘Premier’ will be limitedonly by winter survival in colder regions, and is undergoing furtherresearch to determine the most northern area of survival at this time.‘Premier’ is similar to most medium to fine textured bermudagrasses inwater use demands as shown in production situations, and will be limitedby adequate precipitation in drier to arid regions. ‘Premier’ is adaptedfrom sandy to heavier loam soil textures and from slightly acid toslightly alkaline soil pH.

TABLE 1 Leaf blade widths and lengths and texture class of selectedbermudagrass cultivars, measured under greenhouse conditions in Lebanon,OR, 2003. Width, Length, 2nd 2nd youngest youngest stolon stolon Length,3rd Width, 3rd Leaf leaf leaf panicle leaf panicle leaf Texture Varietymm cm cm mm Class OR2002 2.15 2.24 2.29 1.58 Medium Tifgreen 2.77 2.792.01 2.11 Medium Tifway 2.37 3.01 2.22 1.77 Medium

TABLE 2 Inflorescence and leaf characters of selected bermudagrasscultivars, measured under greenhouse conditions in Lebanon, OR 2003.Leaf Sheath Number Flag Flag Length, Leaf Sheath Length, panicle leafleaf Flag 4^(th) Youngest branches width length Leaf Vegetative Varietycm mm cm mm Leaf mm ‘Premier’ 3.50 0.89 0.61 2.9 1.9 ‘Tifgreen’ 3.381.26 0.84 3.1 1.8 ‘Tifway’ 3.00 0.91 0.65 3.3 2.4

TABLE 3 Sheath hair length and stolon internode length measurements ofselected bermudagrass cultivars, measured under greenhouse conditions inLebanon, OR, 2003 Hair length, Stolon Internode Stolon Internode mouthof sheath length, node 2-3 length, node 3-4 Variety mm cm cm ‘Premier’2.35 4.63 5.19 ‘Tifgreen’ 2.06 3.77 3.60 ‘Tifway’ 2.12 5.73 5.33

TABLE 4 Turf quality characters, Dallas, TX, 2003. Genetic Spring LeafQuality Color Greenup texture May Variety 7.33 5.67 7.67 6.33 Premier7.57 6.00 8.00 5.67 Tifway 7.33 5.87 7.00 6.67 Celebration 7.00 5.006.33 6.00 Tift No. 1 6.57 4.00 6.00 4.00 Az. Common 6.67 3.33 6.00 5.00NM Sahara 7.00 6.00 7.33 6.33 Midlawn 7.67 5.33 7.67 6.00 Tifsport 7.675.67 6.33 5.00 MS-Choice 0.75 1.00 0.70 1.30 LBD Quality Quality QualityMean June July August Quality Variety 6.33 7.00 7.00 5.47 Premier 5.677.00 6.33 5.17 Tifway 5.67 6.67 6.00 5.03 Celebration 5.67 6.00 5.575.19 Tift No. 1 4.67 5.00 5.00 4.14 Az. Common 5.00 6.00 5.33 4.53 NMSahara 6.33 6.67 7.00 5.36 Midlawn 6.33 7.00 7.00 5.08 Tifsport 6.336.33 6.33 4.64 MS-Choice 0.77 0.66 0.71 LBD Spring Summer Fall Dec.Density Density Density Color Variety 5.00 8.00 7.67 2.67 Premier 5.007.67 8.00 5.00 Tifway 5.33 8.00 7.33 3.00 Celebration 5.33 7.67 7.333.33 Tift No. 1 3.67 7.00 7.00 2.00 Az. Common 4.67 7.00 7.00 1.33 NMSahara 6.00 7.67 8.00 3.67 Midlawn 4.00 8.00 7.67 5.00 Tifsport 4.337.67 7.33 3.00 MS-Choice 1.79 0.53 1.21 1.00 LBD

COMPLETE BOTANICAL DESCRIPTION OF THE VARIETY

-   Origin: ‘Premier’ is a cultivar of a single clone of bermudagrass    discovered under cultivated conditions in a Seal Beach, Calif. golf    course fairway of ‘Tifgreen’ bermudagrass.-   Classification: Cynodon dacytlon (L.) Pers.-   Growth habit: ‘Premier’ is a perennial plant hat spreads by stolons    and rhizomes and produces a dense, fine textured turfgrass. The    inflorescence of ‘Premier’ is a panicle, with branches originating    from a common center.-   Leaf blade: fold in the bud, slightly concave surface versus    Tifgreen and Tifway, both of which have flat leaves.-   Leaf blade pubescence: Adaxial leaf surface have very few, short    (1-5) hairs versus Tifway with many hairs on adaxial surface; hairs    mostly absent on abaxial leaf surface.-   Leaf sheath pubescence: present with very short hairs versus    Tifgreen with no pubescence.-   Leaf blade margin: rough versus Tifgreen with slightly rough margin.-   Leaf blade veins: obscure.-   Leaf ligule hairs; present, very short.-   Leaf blade flexibility (softness): Stiff versus Tifgreen: soft;    Tifway; medium stiffness.-   Vegetative leaf, fourth youngest vegetative leaf:    -   -   Blade length mean.—2.46 cm        -   Blade width mean.—2.15 mm        -   Sheath length mean.—1.9 cm.-   Stolon internode length, node 2-3: 4.63 cm.-   Stolon internode length, node 3-4: 5.19 cm.-   Stolon internode width, node 2-3: 0.89×1.02 mm.-   Stolon internode width, node 3-4: 0.99×1.07 mm.-   Inflorescence characters:    -   -   Length of flowering stem from lower node to panicle            center.—7.74; Tifgreen: 14.14 cm.        -   Internode length from flag leaf to 2^(nd) internode below            flag.—4.73 cm.        -   Culm width, stem thickness, base of floral area.—0.47 mm;            Tifway: 0.54 mm.        -   Node thickness, node below flag leaf.—0.65 mm.-   Mature plant height, including inflorescence: 10.8; Tifgreen: 15.23    cm.-   Color Notations, vegetative characters, based on The R.H.S. Colour    Chart (light quality, photoperiod, and general growth of the plants    affect color notations):    -   -   Leaf blade color adaxial leaf surface.—137B green.        -   Stolon color.—59A red purple and 145B yellow green.-   Color Notations, floral characters, based on The R.H.S. Colour Chart    (light quality, photoperiod, and general growth of the plants affect    color notations):    -   -   Stigma color.—61A red-purple.        -   Anther color.—5C yellow.-   Turf quality (rated 1-9, 9 best): 8; ‘Tifgreen’: 7.-   Turf color (rated 1-9, 9 best): 7; ‘Tifgreen’: 6.

1. A new and distinct variety of bermudagrass plant, substantially asdescribed and illustrated herein.